National Bank of Umm Al Quwain announces 15% drop in net profit

Dubai: National Bank of Umm Al Quwain on Wednesday reported a 15 per cent drop in net profit from Dh333.77 million in 2007 to Dh283.67 million in 2008.

The bank attributed the decline largely to the prudential general provision of Dh28 million made in 2008 in view of the growth in its advance portfolio and an impairment and valuation loss of Dh91.2 million to the company's equity investment portfolio. The company announced its results on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

It reported Dh633.05 million in revenues last year, up from Dh624.46 million in 2007.

The bank's total assets increased by 60.6 per cent in 2008 to Dh13.54 billion from Dh8.43 billion as at the end of 2007, mainly due to 99.8 per cent increase in advances portfolio to Dh9.85 billion in 2008 from Dh4.93 billion as at the end of 2007. It reported an increase of 61.5 per cent in shareholder equity in 2008 to Dh2.78 billion from Dh1.72 billion in 2007.

This was due to doubling of the paid-up capital to Dh1.32 billion in 2008 as a result of a 50 per cent bonus issue and a 50 per cent rights issue at a premium of Dh1.50 per share with par value of Dh1, compared to Dh660 million in 2007.

The earnings per share recorded a marginal decline to Dh0.22 in 2008.